Grifter gang's all here, deuxmoi exposed, Tiger Mom takedown 👀🍿🧃

Yep- Anna, Billy, Adam, and Martin are all up to something

Hi Wrecklings! Big week! We have a headline trifecta + 1 (quadfecta? superfecta?!) of some of the most famous scammers— Billy of Fyre Fest, faux-heiress Anna Delvey, WeWork’s Adam Neumann, and man-of-zero-morals Martin Shrekli!

• “Pharma Bro Martin Shrekli is apparently on dating app Bumble just a DAY after getting out of prison for fraud - despite his ex-Bloomberg reporter flame Christie Smythe saying 'she'd love to see him'“- Dead serious when I say that Shrekli popped up as a suggested match on my OkCupid around 2013, I regret I didn’t save those screenshots of his profile.

• “Billy McFarland’s Duped Fyre Fest Investor Thinks It’s a ‘Joke’ He Left Prison Early”- I mean, same.

• “Adam Neumann’s blockchain-based redemption story now sponsored by a16z”- 70 Million. Dollars. In. Funding. To the guy who inspired a podcast called WeCrashed. How. Why.

• “I Have Seen the Death of Culture, and It Was Anna Delvey’s Art Show”- With these grifters commercializing their notoriety after shamelessly scamming, I’m suspicious this is going to be seen as an aspirational career route for anyone with the right questionable morals. Think: influencer but villainous. I’d write a think-piece on this, if I were a smidge less lazy.

• “Influencer Accused of Setting Forest Ablaze for TikTok Video Currently Under Investigation”- Good and bad news: it’s not just Americans setting forest fires!

• “‘Literally the most legit scam I have ever seen’: Woman says she got ‘job scammed’ after applying for job on Upwork, going through lengthy interview process”- As if job-hunting wasn’t difficult enough, sophisticated scammers have entered the process.

• A juicy press release worth reading- While shady C-Suites pull this behavior all the time, the decision for an investor to write a 🔥 press release calling them out is wild. The release was shared in a Public Relations-execs FB group and one publicist commented, “Fascinating. S##t-posting at the corporate level feels new to me.”

  • Also on the subject of cringe-PR- I *literally cringed* at Audi (rightfully) tossing M&C Saatchi under the bus and then M&C Saatchi’s horrendously bad response.

• “deuxmoi's digital trail”- So much for anon plz, this piece is blowing up the internet, thanks to some light (but diligent) internet sleuthing. P.S. curious about who authors these newsletters? Oh hi, it’s me!

• “Two-Card Monte: Why Mastercard And Visa Rarely Shut Down Scammers Who Are Ripping Off Consumers”- Interesting that in our piece on The CEH scandal, Amex was praised a few times for quickly reimbursing folks for their purchases.

• “Terra Newell of ‘Dirty John’ Took to TikTok to Share Her Trauma. Then She Became a Meme”- As an OG Dirty John listener, I’m in awe of Terra’s survival story but the nonchalant/flippant delivery of this TikTok doesn’t do her any justice.

• 🔏 “At Cameo, Boom Times Give Way to Sharp Sales Slowdown”- This one’s behind The Information’s paywall, but it’s an interesting read for those with access. Never a great sign when part of your business strategy is recruiting famous, skeevy ex-convicts to your platform.

• “It Sure Sounds Like Elon Musk Decided to Become a Republican After Finding Out a Story About Him Allegedly Exposing Himself to a Flight Attendant Was Going Public”- Like a bunch of Teslas, Elon’s reputation is quickly burning to the ground. It also feels like a good time to resurface this Marie Claire profile of Elon’s first wife and their turbulent relationship.

• “How 'Australia's Tinder Swindler' used women as 'cash cows' to fund his luxury lifestyle before his own daughter exposed him and his lies”- It’s infuriating that I know legions of successful single women while men like this just leach off. Poll here— should we keep including Tinder Swindler-esque stories like this?

• “Kellyanne Conway tears into reporter Taylor Lorenz for sharing 15-year-old daughter Claudia's TikToks criticizing Trump and slams people who called child protective services on their family”- My hunch is that if the TikToks hadn’t exposed the insanity of this family, Kellyanne would have had zero issue with them being amplified.

• “The Tiger Mom and the Hornet’s Nest: For two decades, Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld were Yale Law power brokers. A new generation wants to see them exiled.”- This is a longform article that’s full of scandal for those that admittedly have a longer attention span than I do.

More Serious Stories

We realize some of these can be triggering for some readers, so feel free to skip!

• “Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy: Our Maternal Death Rates are Only Bad if You Count Black Women”

• “Young female 'SNL' staffers say they were treated like 'a joke,' with sexual advances, babysitting requests, and an unsolicited nude photo”

• “Southern Baptist leaders covered up sexual abuse claims and kept a secret database of offenders in its clergy - but rarely punished them, bombshell church report claims”

• “At Wells Fargo, a Quest to Increase Diversity Leads to Fake Job Interviews”

• “Lara Logan, Once a Star at CBS News, Is Now One for the Far Right”

• “Influencers Are Posting Potentially Dangerous Baby Formula Recipes, Despite Safety Warnings”

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P.S. While we’re obsessed with these stories, we don’t endorse any of these insane behaviors. 💋